Area news briefs

May 21, 2013

WARREN - A Warren man is being held on $150,000 bond after pleading not guilty Monday to charges stemming from a reported sexual attack on a younger, mentally disabled man last August.

James L. Austin, 42, of Front Street S.W., faces a five-count secret indictment for two counts of rape, two counts of gross sexual imposition and kidnapping.

He is scheduled for a pre-trial hearing Wednesday before Judge W. Wyatt McKay.

According to reports, the 19-year-old man was fixing up an abandoned home on Front Street, when Austin followed him into the house and sexually molested and attacked him.

Man pleads guilty

to assault, kidnapping

WARREN - A city man was sentenced to six years behind bars Monday after pleading guilty to felonious assault and kidnapping in connection with an attack on an ex-girlfriend.

Michael A. Fernandez, 50, of Fourth Street S.W., also will serve time on two unrelated drug and weapons charges.

Fernandez was indicted on charges of beating the woman inside a Niles home where she was visiting a friend. He then took the victim to his home in Warren where she was beaten again on Nov. 26.

The woman was hospitalized following the attack.

Chevy truck slams

into Bazetta home

BAZETTA - The driver of a vehicle was injured late Monday after a truck hit a residence on state Route 305.

Police responded about 9:10 p.m. and found a Chevrolet pickup truck had smashed into a home at 769 state Route 305.

The vehicle struck the wheelchair ramp at the home, according to a 911 supervisor.

Ohio State Highway Patrol in Warren said the cause of the crash and identity of the driver were unknown late Monday.

The driver was taken to Trumbull Memorial Hospital in Warren with what police called a non-serious injury. The amount of damage caused to the home was also unclear.

State troopers and Bazetta police responded to the accident. Charges are pending an investigation.

Police were still at the scene at press time.

Police: Man treated

for gunshot wound

WARREN - City police are investigating a shooting that wounded a Tod Avenue man on Sunday.

According to a Warren police report, Audie L. Broadus, 24, suffered an apparent minor injury. Police said when they responded to the area near 937 Front St. S.W. about 12:30 a.m. in reference to a possible gunshot victim, they found that Broadus had already been taken to Trumbull Memorial Hospital by a family member.

Broadus told police he did not know who shot him.

Warren woman reports assault with knife

WARREN - A Plaza Avenue woman told police a man broke into her apartment Saturday night and assaulted her with a knife.

According to a police report, the man cut the woman several times with a knife about 11 p.m.

The woman told police she did not know the man.

Hartford proceeds

with police levy

HARTFORD - Township trustees at a special meeting on Monday took the first step to placing a 2-mill, five-year police operating levy on the November ballot.

Trustee Chairwoman Rebecca Whitman said the levy would generate $68,000 annually for staff salaries and equipment.

In another matter, trustees reviewed with their insurance company the $9,000 in damages caused by an April windstorm that knocked a tree onto the roof of the fire station. It and also bent the flag pole at the administration building.

Whitman said the roof was repaired, but the tree also caused other damage.